March 31, 2011

Mod Podge Amy, trouble-maker that she is, sent over this article about the color preferences of men and women. The excerpted graphic above shows the least favorite colors reported by men on the left and women on the right. Dear readers, this is a tragic state of affairs! Do I insist that orange be everyone's favorite color? No. But should it ever be one's least favorite color? Never! Lemon yellow is far worse. Results also revealed that the majority of people surveyed believe orange to be a "cheap" color. Blasphemy!

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If it makes you feel better...brown is my favorite color! How can anyone not like brown? It's the color of chocolate! It's the color of my hair and eyes and favorite sweater! It's the color of trees! It's the color of... oh, wait, let's not go there. Maybe that's why people don't like it.Yours in autumnal colors,Jo

I used to hate orange, mainly because I look gross in the color. But over time we have learned to respect one another and I now like the color because it brightens my day. We have it in our kitchen and my girls' room. I don't understand this cheap thing. I think the quality of something makes it cheap not the color how silly!

I've been an orange hater before, but over the last few years (since I started following your blog actually) I've warmed up to the color. I wear a lot of teal and purple and find it to be a great accent color. In design I like to use it because it's so much more gentle than red. Orange is also the color of our Interior Decor brand at work. Orange is #win for me!

Cheap, I do not understand. I think it's just the opposite... only the elite understand it and wear it/decorate with it!

Actually, I knew the sad state of orange's repuation based on anecdotal information from asking around in first grade. And I chose it as my favorite precisely BECAUSE no one else seemed to like it. Losers. ;)

I dont belive in surveys, they never tell the truth. Mostly the opposite. I like all colors, orange as well, its beautifull and makes me think of tropical paradises. And its a very happy color. If i have to chose a favorite it would be brown accompanied with an other color, such as: pink, turquise, orange, green. / A swedish reader

Candace, congrats. I've been waiting for someone to jump on my yellow comment! Can I admit that most yellows are good? Just not pastel yellow. I can't do it. Can't. Cannot. I don't know why. I find it depressing.

This just makes me think of playing board games as a kid, no one wanted to be the yellow or orange, piece it was always the last one picked!! I personally love orange, and my room was even a nice bright orange! (recently painted over to a deeper turquoise, becasue the birghtness atracted those nasty lady bugs) Anywasy I really enjoy Orange!!

Orange is my absolute favourite colour! And my husband's. Between the two of us it's quite embarrassing ... I have orange boots, we both have lots of orange clothing, we just bought a big orange leather sofa and to top it all off I'm begging him for an orange car!! ha ha! :)

Our wedding colours were Brown, Orange and Yellow. We got the colour inspiration from Reese's Pieces (they were served at our reception).I love orange! I've vowed to have a fabulous Orange & Light Gray Kitchen one day!

I'm going to be painting my office this weekend and have orange on the brain, probably because I spend so much time here. I'm thinking an orange / magenta combo? Kind of the color of the mango raspberry sorbet that my daughter had at Friendly's last night.

Ha! They just don't want to admit they love orange. Growing up my mom didn't like orange so I thought I didn't like it either. Then I decided I could like any colors I wanted...I've painted whole rooms orange! Love your blog and I saw your ribbon at All Things Paper, it is so pretty!

Starting at the age of 2 my daughter began loving all things orange. Now age 6 she claims her favorite color is pink but she still actually leans towards orange... choosing it above all.I love that she loves orange! :)

I understand your pain, orange is my favorite color too. Although, I think the tides are turning. I know a lot of kids that think orange is the best color. So maybe only old people hate it and young, cool people know its the best color around.

I grew up thinking that orange was a "cheap" color because that is what I was taught. Finally, by the age of 40ish, I was proud to be able to say that I love the color orange and I don't care if others think I'm tacky for it!

I favor orange. Maybe it's because all three of my children and I have orange hair. Like any color, loveliness has much to do with the particular tint or hue. There are some less attractive oranges and greens and purples and reds and blues and yellows.

my favorite colors are all the least favorite on this pie chart...orange, brown and gray. whats wrong with them?I painted my art room in orange and i am painting my nursery with orange, and it looks great! i am slowly converting orange haters into orange lovers!http://notanemptyroom.blogspot.com/2011/03/house-tour-art-room-and-diy-pottery.html

When I was younger orange was my favorite color (cause I felt sorry for it...I'm a deeply emotional/big hearted person). :) Now yellow and red are my favorites, but my little sister's favorite color is orange! I bought her an orange crock pot for Christmas! She loved it!

I LOVE ORANGE so much that I had 4 Orange Bridesmaids at our wedding. I had such a hard time finding orange dresses that summer of 2005. Funny thing is that Orange became the NEW PINK in 2006. ORANGE was everywhere that year!! My husband noticed that I was ahead of the trend. BTW all my girls looked Beautiful in that color and I had Blonde, Brunette, Dark skin,and Light skin girls. They all wore it well. And my pictures... I could go on about how FABULOUS ORANGE is.

With most colors it is the shade and context of the color. I will say, as a general color, in the past couple of years orange has moved up to my second least favorite color (yellow being my least favorite now). But I'm not against either color. My craft room is orange and my bathroom is yellow!

I can kind of understand how a color seems "cheap" - I mean, I see hot pink and my first thought is Barbies, tweens and strippers... it kind of lends itself into a "cheap"-ish category for me. Though I've grown to appreciate it a bit more over the years.

I'm just baffled people say that about orange and brown! Guess it must be people who haven't had the pleasure of a beautiful fall day in a temperate climate! All those leaf-peepers must be missing some kind of taste level ;)

I must say, as far as women go, I think we're highly influenced by what's trendy and popular- and orange hasn't made it down the runway in a while.Forget "Malnutrition Awareness" (thank you wikipedia entry on awareness ribbons), wear an orange ribbon for "Orange is Awesome" awareness.

I think orange took a nosedive when they discovered it stimulated the appetite. It appeared in several fast food restaurants soon after, accentuating that "cheap" factor. I happen to love orange, and painted a living/dining room wall true orange. I have to laugh when recalling the conversation with the paint store salesman. "So, you are painting a kid's room?" "No" I replied. "Well, it is awful bright" he answers. "It is for my living room". "You know, it is awful bright". I don't think he believed me, lol. It got loads of compliments, and my friends were actually sorry to see it go (however, they never were that bold...go figure). But I love lots of different colors, and the wall is currently Chartreuse.

Wow that is crazy! And I agree with so many that left comments. How can someone not like the color brown? All good things are brown... it the color of chocolate, my husband and eldest son's eyes and hair, its the color of my hair, the color of leather... And ORANGE too? What is WRONG with these people?! IN all honesty brown and orange and aqua blue are probably my favorite colors. Maybe it has something to do with living in Germany as a child... Trust me they knew good colors when they saw them!!

This is extremely weird. This morning I was taking a shower and I was thinking exactly that my least favorite color was orange for a long time and that since I use it a lot and it fits wonderful in most pictures it doesn't have any sense any more (I didn't think it was cheap at all, I relate it to some ex boyfriend who wear it a lot) but anyway it's the weirdest causality that happens to me in a long time to find this just today.

I'd like to know just who funded this study because I happen to have very expensive tastes and also be very fond of orange. I'm sure it was funded by white. No one really likes white. We just pretend we do so we don't hurt white's feelings...

I love orange and so do my little girls. It's great to not have pink as the first preference every time. I just went to a craft gathering called "Sew It Together" here in Sydney and the theme colours were orange, brown and yellow. Was great fun - all our (handmade) nametags were in those colours.

honestly, I HATE the color orange.. I don't like most yellows either but I can tolerate a few.. I think it's something about the boldness of it... I think it's like screaming "look at me!" and I've never liked anyone looking at me lol...I will pick any other color I can over orange..

About a decade ago, I read about a study: people were dressed in different solid colored shirts. They walked through a crowded sidewalk, smiling. More people smiled back when the shirt-wearer had on an orange shirt. The study concluded that orange was the friendliest color.

I don't care if other people don't love orange. I've been marching to my own drum for half a century now. Why should my color choices be any different?

(must confess, sunny golden yellow is my #1, orange follows in 2nd place. Although come to think of it, that golden is sort of the place where yellow meets orange...)

I have an awesome orange cardigan I picked up at Target a little before bright colors came back and I swear EVERY time I wear it I get compliments from both men and women. I think people like orange more than they realize, they are just not gutsy enough to pull it off. I <3 orange! Totally my fav color right now!

I was coming of age back in the early 70's when everything was orange, brown and green. I HATED them all. Such an ugly combination in everything as time went by and it WAS perhaps the beginning of cheap mass manufactering. I still do not like 70's color combos, though I cherish the 70's overall. I still do not like orangey-orange in large amounts, but I do love the new ranges of orange, the pumpkins, pumpernickles, and spice colors. Pure orange. No. I do see it as a color of energy but small doses go a long way. So you see there is an association behind that "cheap" analogy. Newer generations will have a different take on it, a different association.

I'm fine with people not being as fond of orange... it means more for those of us who love it! It's my second favorite color (behind purple) but my favorite color to wear. It looks great with my coloring AND I can always find it on the clearance rack! Win-Win!

You of all people hate lemon yellow? But someone who like lemon yellow is much more likely to love orange, in my experience..I agree though, these are shocking results. Obviously your readership wasn't consulted.

Orange is a tough color to pull off, maybe people are afraid of it more than they dislike it? I grew up moving a lot, which means everything was always "relocation beige" - boooring. Orange takes a risk, and when done well - how can it not make you smile? It also has a special place in my heart because it's the only color my daughter incorrectly named in her preschool color test. She called it Home Depot!

Cheap? What's up with that? I LOVE orange, especially when combined with Chicago maroon! And it's great on its own or as an accent with my other favorite color, turquoise. Funny story about yellow...it was my best friend's favorited color when she was younger -- she felt sorry for yellow because no one liked it.

Orange is fun! Orange is warm! Orange is...well, it's orange!! I've always loved orange. My house is full of orange. I get compliments on it all the time. Now I have to worry that people are just being nice when they really think it looks cheap? Nah, I live in Wisconsin, where blaze orange is the fashionable color of choice ever November (for deer hunting). It feels cozy in this northern climate during winter. And adds a bit of tropical punch during the summer.

I'm with you! Orange is a fine color... so fine a color my husband is having an electric motorcycle custom painted in a fabulous metallic orange (he owns a business selling electric bikes/motorcycles/mopeds)... the color is amazing and is one of those chameleon colors that looks red at times and orange at other times. That little orange and white Christmas ornament you made is really terrific... that should make anyone an orange lover!

Funny because a year ago I would have said orange was my least fav colour and today I count it as one of my fav colours...I used to dislike it with a passion but now love it...funny how tastes change.Hugs Khris

Weighing in as a man, I will say that a cursory flip through my closet, and home in general, will show that brown and orange are my two favorite colors. In fact, I am wearing both together as I type this.

Frank Lloyd Wright was definitely on to something when choosing autumnal colors for so many of his projects.

Anyone who hates orange has not seen my living room. It faces east and I painted it in ICI/Dulux African Tulip. On a sunny day, when the sun comes up, it looks like the sunrise exploded in my living room - and it makes me VERY happy!

Orange is a rebellious color to me - plus it compliments favorite color blue. I love orange. That is completely why I had to bring this matter to light. I think the "right" thing to do is question the methodologies used for this survey. The results are obviously flawed.

I spent many years unable to forgive orange after I figured out how terrible it looked on me. In terms of clothing and makeup, it's by far the least flattering for my colouring. Somehow this grew to encompass all orange items, but I'm slowly starting to regain a liking for it.

I'll admit that I was almost put off this blog by the name! But I soon realised how beautiful it was (yes, even the orange things) and now I'm hooked. You've certainly helped me along the path to orange appreciation :-)

Orange is a happy colour! It is not too red, nor yellow. A colour of balance! I am going to click the orange 'publish your comment' button now, and feel slightly happier after doing so because it's orange :D

I live for orange as it is so unexpected to be my favorite color choice (preppy Irish catholic Bostonnian...I actually found your site in my love of love all things orange...but I think that the Legally Blonde sentiment sums up many (SAD) opinions "Whoever said orange was the new pink was seriously disturbed.”

Orange is my son's favorite color. He only liked red because it's close to orange. It's been his favorite since he was a baby. I grew up with a serious dislike for orange because of it's association with football in my family. It's growing on me, though. See- look- my arm is turning orange.

I believe this is partly related to seventies design. Orange was everywhere, and peopole were fed up with orange. So in the end of the decade, catalogues and fashion brands had to call it "apricot", "tangerine" if they wanted to sell something in this shade.

For the longest time, orange was my favorite color. And then I moved to the desert and I realized that the color that I really missed was green. I breathe in deep and stand in awe of landscapes that are green whenever I see them now. But orange is a close second.

my car is a Honda Fit w/"Blazing" orange. it is such an eye-catcher on the highway (esp in the summer!), and i love love love love love it the attention! the other copycat cars that have a brownish orange tint can't compare. like you quoted Frank Sinatra: orange = happy!

and how much cooler is it that there's no rhyme to the word, either. what else says UNIQUE if not that!